Well regarding the Mexican skaters at 4CC, the word on them from those who attended is that they did not do badly. If an 18th place skater can get a standing O he must have something special. Both Michelle Cantu and Miguel Moyron are mid teens. Plenty of time to improve. Based on that, I would say it looks good. Good luck to all the Latin American skaters. You all certainly seem to be winning fans' hearts.

Michelle Cantu I think has a potentially pretty good future (I say "potentially" because she is so young, and here in the US we have seen so many skaters who were potentially great at 14 or 15 but didn't make it thru 16 or 17, so these days I reserve judgement on futures until they make it to 18!); she certainly has had some impressive results for a country that doesn't have much of a skating background. I think this certainly bodes well for the future at least.

Also, on a related note -- I saw Rocio Salas Visuet skate at the 2001 Worlds. I have to admit when she took the ice I wasn't expecting much -- but she did reel off one of the most beautiful layback spins I've ever seen.

The skating program in Mexico seems to be developing quite well and I think it will be very interesting to see how it will continue to do so. The results are definitely getting better. Mexican skaters seem to be doing as well as the South Africans and the South Koreans, and the South Africans and South Koreans have been at it longer.

There's a thread on FSUniverse under the 4 Continents topic about "Team Mexico Rocks" that I'm sure you'll enjoy. Morry Stillwell posted there as well about his experience as a judge for Mexican Nationals. He was very impressed with how musical the skaters were.